Matchbox Blues

Been feeling the blues again lately.

I'm sittin' here wonderin' will a matchbox hold my clothes?
I'm sittin' here wonderin' will a matchbox hold my clothes?
I ain't got so many matches, but I got so far to go.

-— Blind Lemon Jefferson, "Matchbox Blues" (1927)

Now, why would anyone wonder about stuffing all his clothes into a matchbox? There are a few reasons. The first would be that you're dirt poor, without much clothing, without a decent bag to pack clothes into even if you had alot of clothes. The second would be that you got to keep moving, and so you'll have to travel light.

Physically, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. My hometown is truly my hometown. I was born, raised, and remain in my hometown. Sure, I think about moving sometimes, but that's just dreaming right now.

Spiritually, however, I'm sitting here wondering if a matchbox will hold my clothes... cuz I got so far to go. I guess it's the Puritan curse, but it seems that the more acquainted I become with the Scriptures, and the God thereof, the more I realize how sinful I am, and how far indeed I do have to go. I flinch and cringe when I hear people brag of their spirituality, as if they've arrived already, as if they got nowhere left to go. Yet they seem content where they are at. Not me. I feel pressed to move on, knowing that if I stop here I will fall far short of the goal. So, on this journey I must travel light, laying aside those things that hinder me from moving on when it's time.

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13,14). "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:1,2).

"I got to keep movin', I got to keep movin'... there's a hellhound on my trail" (Robert Johnson).